304 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



whole tone of the debate that the division would go against 

 them. They had, in fact, hardly any case. When Mr. 

 Cowper-Temple had told over again the story which Mr. 

 Fawcett told the House last year, Mr. Lowe could only stand 

 up and offer to go on with the Bill which was practically 

 rejected by public opinion, though by accident it escaped con- 

 demnation by the House. Mr. Gladstone himself was Iiot more 

 fortunate. Though he threw himself on the indulgence of the 

 House, and spoke twice, he failed to show reason against the 

 motion. Even the promise that the Government would do 

 what it could was ineffectual against the impatience of the 

 majority. They are as anxious as the House of Commons to 

 preserve the Forest, but do not wish for the responsibility or 

 the trouble of its preservation. The House has once more 

 imposed on the Government the duty of preserving the 

 Forest, by a majority of 197 against 96. There are about 

 3500 acres of Forest still remaining out of the 7000 acres on 

 which all former generations of Londoners have wandered at 

 w^ill. The Bill in question gave up 2500 acres to the land- 

 lords, and kept 1000 acres for the public. This 1000 acres 

 was, however, to be subject to the value of the rights pf the 

 commoners over the whole area, and it was reckoned that 

 about 400 acres must be sold to pay the commoners for their 

 rights. Out of the 7000 acres of which the Forest originally 

 consisted, 600 would, therefore, have been reserved for the 

 public, and all the rest would have gone, as 3500 acres have 

 already gone, into private hands. The difficulty is that 

 neither the rights of the Lords of the Manors, nor those of the 

 Commoners, nor those of the Crown, are at all clearly defined. 

 One thing, however, is obvious. Whatever the rights of the 

 Crown are, they have kept open those 7000 acres of land 

 during the whole course of English history down to our own 

 day. Neither the greedy barons of the Middle Ages, nor the 

 mercenary courtiers of later times, ever filched the land from 

 the enjoyment of the people. As lately as 1854 seven thou- 

 sand acres remained, and were still dedicated, as they were 

 at first, to the public recreation. About that time some 

 C6mmissioner of Woods and Forests conceived the splendid 

 idea of turning the Crown rights into cash. The neighbour- 

 ing landlords were very willing to buy, and the rights over 

 about 4000 acres were sold. They produced the miserable 



